[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":423},["ShallowReactive",2],{"active-categories":3,"blowouts":28,"story-\u002Fstories\u002Feast-coast-gas-exported-australians-pay-more":83,"related-\u002Fstories\u002Feast-coast-gas-exported-australians-pay-more":397,"surround-\u002Fstories\u002Feast-coast-gas-exported-australians-pay-more":416},[4,6,8,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27],{"category":5},"follow-the-money",{"category":7},"cost-of-living",{"category":9},"government-waste",{"category":9},{"category":9},{"category":7},{"category":7},{"category":9},{"category":9},{"category":5},{"category":9},{"category":9},{"category":7},{"category":9},{"category":9},{"category":9},{"category":7},{"category":5},{"category":7},{"category":9},{"category":9},[29,39,49,58,66,75],{"path":30,"title":31,"category":9,"date":32,"blowout":33},"\u002Fstories\u002Fbom-website-96-million-one-year-on","One year on: the BOM website that cost $96.5 million, not $4 million","2026-10-24",{"project":34,"originalCost":35,"currentCost":36,"announced":37,"note":38},"BOM website",4100000,96500000,"2025","$4.1m was the figure first given to the public.",{"path":40,"title":41,"category":9,"date":42,"blowout":43},"\u002Fstories\u002Fcross-river-rail-cost-blowout-19-billion","Cross River Rail was sold as a $5.4 billion project. The government now says it costs $19 billion","2026-10-25",{"project":44,"originalCost":45,"currentCost":46,"announced":47,"note":48},"Cross River Rail",5400000000,19041000000,"2017","Queensland Government figure (Oct 2025). It includes 25 years of tunnel maintenance and network works; Labor disputes counting them.",{"path":50,"title":51,"category":9,"date":42,"blowout":52},"\u002Fstories\u002Fhunter-class-frigates-27-billion-three-ships","Hunter-class frigates: sold as nine warships for $35 billion. We're now paying $27 billion for three",{"project":53,"originalCost":54,"currentCost":55,"announced":56,"note":57},"Hunter-class frigates",35000000000,45600000000,"2018","2020 Force Structure Plan estimate for nine ships. The program is now six ships; close to $27bn is allocated for the first three, including the Osborne shipyard.",{"path":59,"title":60,"category":9,"date":42,"blowout":61},"\u002Fstories\u002Finland-rail-cost-blowout-45-billion-parkes","Inland Rail was sold as a $10.7 billion project. It now costs $45.6 billion, and stops at Parkes",{"project":62,"originalCost":63,"currentCost":55,"announced":64,"note":65},"Inland Rail",10660000000,"2015","Both P90 estimates for the full Melbourne to Brisbane line. Only Beveridge to Parkes is now being built.",{"path":67,"title":68,"category":9,"date":42,"blowout":69},"\u002Fstories\u002Fnorth-east-link-cost-blowout-26-billion","North East Link was sold as a $10 billion road. It now costs $26 billion",{"project":70,"originalCost":71,"currentCost":72,"announced":73,"note":74},"North East Link",10000000000,26100000000,"2016","Victoria's December 2023 estimate. Includes the Eastern Freeway and M80 upgrades added since.",{"path":76,"title":77,"category":9,"date":42,"blowout":78},"\u002Fstories\u002Fsnowy-2-0-cost-blowout-25-billion","Snowy 2.0 was sold as a $2 billion project. It could now cost $25 billion",{"project":79,"originalCost":80,"currentCost":81,"announced":47,"note":82},"Snowy 2.0",2000000000,22200000000,"Target cost. Up to $25bn with contingency; transmission not included.",{"id":84,"title":85,"author":86,"bigNumber":87,"bigNumberLabel":88,"blowout":89,"body":90,"category":5,"date":42,"description":352,"draft":353,"extension":354,"featured":353,"focusKeywords":355,"image":356,"imageAlt":357,"meta":358,"navigation":359,"path":360,"people":361,"readingTime":362,"refresh":89,"seo":363,"shareImage":89,"sources":364,"stem":389,"tags":390,"updated":89,"__hash__":396},"stories\u002Fstories\u002Feast-coast-gas-exported-australians-pay-more.md","Three-quarters of east coast gas is shipped overseas. Australians pay export prices for the rest","Aussie Outrage","75%","Share of east coast gas production that is exported as LNG",null,{"type":91,"value":92,"toc":341},"minimark",[93,97,100,104,112,117,186,189,193,200,208,211,218,221,228,243,248,259,267,271,278,284,288,299,302,309,313,316,319,322],[94,95,96],"p",{},"Australia is one of the three biggest gas exporters on earth, alongside Qatar and the United States. Yet the competition regulator spent this winter warning that the east coast could run short, and in Victoria, where homes and small businesses use 60% of the state's gas, families pay prices that the energy regulator says are \"influenced by international gas prices\".",[94,98,99],{},"Here's where the gas goes.",[101,102],"big-stat",{"label":88,"source":103,"value":87},"AER, State of the energy market 2025",[105,106],"split-bar",{":data":107,":decimals":108,"source":103,"subtitle":109,"suffix":110,"title":111},"[{\"label\":\"Exported as LNG\",\"value\":75,\"highlight\":true},{\"label\":\"Sold to Australian homes, businesses and power stations\",\"value\":25}]","0","Share of gas produced in eastern Australia (excluding the NT)","%","Where east coast gas goes",[113,114,116],"h2",{"id":115},"follow-the-gas","Follow the gas",[118,119,120,133],"table",{},[121,122,123],"thead",{},[124,125,126,130],"tr",{},[127,128,129],"th",{},"Step",[127,131,132],{},"What happens",[134,135,136,145,153,166,178],"tbody",{},[124,137,138,142],{},[139,140,141],"td",{},"1",[139,143,144],{},"Gas is pumped from coal seams in Queensland's Surat and Bowen basins",[124,146,147,150],{},[139,148,149],{},"2",[139,151,152],{},"Pipelines carry it to three export plants on Curtis Island, near Gladstone",[124,154,155,158],{},[139,156,157],{},"3",[139,159,160,161,165],{},"It is chilled into liquid (LNG) and loaded onto ships. East coast exports topped ",[162,163,164],"strong",{},"1,300 petajoules"," for the first time in 2024",[124,167,168,171],{},[139,169,170],{},"4",[139,172,173,174,177],{},"Most of it goes to Asia. China took ",[162,175,176],{},"60%"," of eastern Australia's LNG in 2024",[124,179,180,183],{},[139,181,182],{},"5",[139,184,185],{},"What's left, about a quarter, is sold to Australian homes, factories and power stations",[94,187,188],{},"In 2024, LNG exporters used more gas than every Australian household, business, factory and gas power station on the east coast put together.",[113,190,192],{"id":191},"then-the-price-tripled","Then the price tripled",[94,194,195,196,199],{},"Before the Gladstone plants opened in 2015, east coast gas had been sold for decades at around ",[162,197,198],{},"$3 to $4 a gigajoule",", according to the ACCC. Once producers could ship gas overseas, they could choose who to sell it to, and Australians started paying close to what Asian buyers pay.",[201,202],"bar-chart",{":data":203,":decimals":149,"prefix":204,"source":205,"subtitle":206,"title":207},"[{\"label\":\"Before exports began (pre-2015)\",\"value\":3.5,\"display\":\"$3 to $4\"},{\"label\":\"Early 2017 (peak of the first crunch)\",\"value\":20,\"display\":\"Up to $20\"},{\"label\":\"'Reasonable price' under the gas code (since July 2023)\",\"value\":12,\"display\":\"$12\"},{\"label\":\"Producer contracts, second half of 2024\",\"value\":13.58,\"highlight\":true}]","$","ACCC (long-run price before exports, and 2017 peak); AER, State of the energy market 2025 (2024 contract price)","Typical east coast wholesale gas price, dollars per gigajoule","What Australians pay for their own gas",[94,209,210],{},"Spot market prices in the second half of 2024 averaged just over $13 too.",[94,212,213,214,217],{},"After an emergency price cap in December 2022, a mandatory code has since July 2023 set a \"reasonable price\" of ",[162,215,216],{},"$12 a gigajoule"," for most gas sold by producers on the east coast, with exemptions. That's still three times what Australians used to pay.",[113,219,220],{"id":5},"Follow the money",[94,222,223,224,227],{},"LNG brought in an estimated ",[162,225,226],{},"$72 billion"," in export revenue in 2024-25.",[94,229,230,231,234,235,238,239,242],{},"The federal government's special tax on gas profits, the ",[162,232,233],{},"petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT)",", collected ",[162,236,237],{},"$1.42 billion",". Queensland collected another ",[162,240,241],{},"$1.69 billion"," in petroleum royalties.",[101,244],{"label":245,"source":246,"value":247},"LNG export revenue against the PRRT collected in 2024-25","AER; The Conversation (Kevin Morrison, IEEFA)","$72bn vs $1.4bn",[94,249,250,251,254,255,258],{},"The PRRT isn't the whole tax bill. Oil and gas companies also pay ordinary company tax: ",[162,252,253],{},"$10.6 billion"," in 2024-25, the sector's second-highest on record, according to the ATO. But the PRRT is the tax meant to give Australians a share of the windfall from selling a resource they own, and expected receipts keep being revised down: by ",[162,256,257],{},"$2.5 billion"," over the four years to 2027-28 at the last mid-year update.",[201,260],{":data":261,":decimals":149,"prefix":204,"source":262,"subtitle":263,"title":264,"note":265,"suffix":266},"[{\"label\":\"LNG export revenue (all Australia)\",\"value\":72,\"highlight\":true},{\"label\":\"Company tax paid by oil and gas companies\",\"value\":10.6},{\"label\":\"Queensland petroleum royalties\",\"value\":1.69},{\"label\":\"Petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT)\",\"value\":1.42}]","AER (export revenue forecast); The Conversation, Kevin Morrison (PRRT, royalties); ATO via ABC News (company tax)","2024-25, billions of dollars","What the gas earned, and the taxes on it","Company tax covers all oil and gas companies nationally, not only east coast LNG. These are different taxes and shouldn't be added up as one bill.","bn",[113,268,270],{"id":269},"if-they-export-all-their-uncontracted-gas","\"If they export all their uncontracted gas\"",[94,272,273,274,277],{},"The ACCC's latest outlook says the east coast should have enough gas for the rest of 2026. But it warns of possible shortfalls in the autumn and winter of ",[162,275,276],{},"2027",", \"if LNG producers export all their uncontracted gas\".",[94,279,280,281,283],{},"The pressure falls hardest on the south. In Victoria, ",[162,282,176],{}," of gas is used by homes and small businesses, mostly for heating and cooking, and the old Bass Strait fields are running down. Southern states now rely on gas piped down from Queensland, past the export terminals, and on gas stored over summer.",[113,285,287],{"id":286},"the-fix-that-starts-in-2027","The fix that starts in 2027",[94,289,290,291,294,295,298],{},"On 14 October 2026, the government introduced legislation for a national Domestic Gas Reservation. LNG exporters will have to supply Australian customers with the equivalent of ",[162,292,293],{},"20%"," of their exports, \"calibrated to forecast domestic demand\", in exchange for the right to export. When the scheme was announced, the government said it would start on ",[162,296,297],{},"1 July 2027",".",[94,300,301],{},"\"For too long Australians have watched our gas leave our shores while local households and businesses faced uncertainty and rising costs,\" Energy Minister Chris Bowen said.",[94,303,304,305,308],{},"But existing export contracts are respected. Law firm Allens says contracts signed before ",[162,306,307],{},"22 December 2025"," are excluded, which will mute the scheme's effect, and Santos's Gladstone LNG contract with Korea Gas Corporation is protected until 2031.",[113,310,312],{"id":311},"the-other-side","The other side",[94,314,315],{},"Gas companies argue the Queensland coal seam gas fields would never have been developed without the long-term export contracts that paid for them, and that the gas sold to Australians today exists because of that investment. The industry points to the jobs, the company tax and the royalties it pays, and says the answer to high prices is approving more supply, not interfering in contracts.",[94,317,318],{},"Shell Australia chair Cecile Wake called the reservation bill a \"sledgehammer to crack a nut\" and an \"extraordinarily heavy-handed intervention into a market that is actually working well\", warning it could push prices below the cost of bringing new gas fields into production.",[94,320,321],{},"Those are real arguments. But Australians were never asked whether they wanted to pay export prices for their own gas, and a decade on, they still are.",[94,323,324],{},[325,326,327,328,335,336,298],"em",{},"Top photo: LNG plants under construction on Curtis Island, near Gladstone, June 2013. Photo: Lock the Gate Alliance, ",[329,330,334],"a",{"href":331,"rel":332},"https:\u002F\u002Fcreativecommons.org\u002Flicenses\u002Fby\u002F2.0",[333],"nofollow","CC BY 2.0",", via ",[329,337,340],{"href":338,"rel":339},"https:\u002F\u002Fcommons.wikimedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FFile:Curtis_Island.jpg",[333],"Wikimedia Commons",{"title":342,"searchDepth":343,"depth":344,"links":345},"",2,3,[346,347,348,349,350,351],{"id":115,"depth":343,"text":116},{"id":191,"depth":343,"text":192},{"id":5,"depth":343,"text":220},{"id":269,"depth":343,"text":270},{"id":286,"depth":343,"text":287},{"id":311,"depth":343,"text":312},"Before the Gladstone LNG plants opened, east coast gas cost about $4 a gigajoule. Now it's around $14, and the regulator is warning of shortfalls. Follow the gas, and the money.",false,"md",[],"\u002Fimages\u002Fgas-curtis-island-lng.jpg","An aerial view of LNG plants being built on Curtis Island, with storage tanks on the shoreline near Gladstone",{},true,"\u002Fstories\u002Feast-coast-gas-exported-australians-pay-more",[],6,{"title":85,"description":352},[365,368,371,374,377,380,383,386],{"title":366,"url":367},"AER: State of the energy market 2025, Chapter 4: Gas markets in eastern Australia","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.aer.gov.au\u002Fsystem\u002Ffiles\u002F2025-08\u002FState%20of%20the%20energy%20market%202025%20-%20Chapter%204%20-%20Gas%20markets%20in%20eastern%20Australia.pdf",{"title":369,"url":370},"ACCC: East coast gas market to be well supplied in Q4 2026 but more investment needed (10 Jul 2026)","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.accc.gov.au\u002Fmedia-release\u002Feast-coast-gas-market-to-be-well-supplied-in-q4-2026-but-more-investment-needed-to-meet-long-term-demand",{"title":372,"url":373},"The Conversation: Australia isn't getting a fair share of tax on gas exports (30 Apr 2026)","https:\u002F\u002Ftheconversation.com\u002Faustralia-isnt-getting-a-fair-share-of-tax-on-gas-exports-queensland-has-shown-how-to-raise-the-bar-281526",{"title":375,"url":376},"Allens: Australia's gas reservation scheme (May 2026)","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.allens.com.au\u002Finsights-news\u002Finsights\u002F2026\u002F05\u002Faustralias-gas-reservation-scheme\u002F",{"title":378,"url":379},"ACCC: East coast gas inquiry 2015 report","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.accc.gov.au\u002Fmedia-release\u002Frelease-of-east-coast-gas-inquiry-report-into-the-increasingly-complex-and-uncertain-gas-market",{"title":381,"url":382},"Ministers Bowen, King and Ayres: Landmark legislation to secure Australian gas for industry and households (14 Oct 2026)","https:\u002F\u002Fminister.dcceew.gov.au\u002Fbowen\u002Fmedia-releases\u002Fjoint-media-release-landmark-legislation-secure-australian-gas-industry-and-households",{"title":384,"url":385},"Energy Source & Distribution: Australian Govt introduces Domestic Gas Reservation bill (15 Oct 2026)","https:\u002F\u002Fesdnews.com.au\u002Faustralian-government-introduces-domestic-gas-reservation-bill\u002F",{"title":387,"url":388},"ABC News: ATO says 1,149 large companies paid no tax (1 Oct 2026)","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.abc.net.au\u002Fnews\u002F2026-10-01\u002Fato-reveals-companies-that-paid-no-tax-as-fights-profit-shifting\u002F107204032","stories\u002Feast-coast-gas-exported-australians-pay-more",[391,392,393,394,395,7],"gas","lng","energy","exports","prrt","EN1jrpINwWJPzmedZwqYZ7C4QZQKytL0iudTS4yfOoc",[398,407],{"path":399,"title":400,"description":401,"date":42,"category":5,"author":86,"image":402,"imageAlt":403,"bigNumber":404,"bigNumberLabel":405,"readingTime":406,"featured":353},"\u002Fstories\u002Fato-tax-transparency-2024-25-companies-paid-no-tax","1,149 of Australia's biggest companies paid no income tax last year","The ATO's latest tax transparency report covers every company earning more than $100 million. More than one in four paid nothing. Here's what the numbers show, and why the tax office says it's not always a scandal.","\u002Fimages\u002Fato-building-canberra.jpg","A multi-storey Australian Taxation Office building in Canberra's city centre, with a car park in front","1 in 4","Large companies that paid no income tax in 2024-25",7,{"path":408,"title":409,"description":410,"date":42,"category":5,"author":86,"image":411,"imageAlt":412,"bigNumber":413,"bigNumberLabel":414,"readingTime":415,"featured":353},"\u002Fstories\u002Fprofit-shifting-money-trail-chevron-rio-tinto","How to move a profit offshore: the 9% loan and the Singapore hub","Two real cases, one decided in court and one settled with the tax office for about $1 billion, show how multinationals can shrink an Australian tax bill. Follow the money, step by step.","\u002Fimages\u002Fsingapore-financial-district.jpg","The towers of Singapore's financial district seen across Marina Bay","~$1bn","What Rio Tinto agreed to pay the ATO to settle its Singapore marketing hub dispute",5,[417,420],{"title":41,"path":40,"stem":418,"description":419,"children":-1},"stories\u002Fcross-river-rail-cost-blowout-19-billion","Brisbane's Cross River Rail was promised for $5.4bn by 2024. The Queensland Government now puts it at $19.04bn, with first trains in 2029. Labor says the books were cooked.",{"title":51,"path":50,"stem":421,"description":422,"children":-1},"stories\u002Fhunter-class-frigates-27-billion-three-ships","The Hunter-class frigate program was cut from nine ships to six, and close to $27bn is now set aside for the first three. The first won't arrive until 2032.",1793586230219]